NAPTIP urges EU to screen immigrants for traffickers, victims

The Acting Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri has called on countries under the European Union to carry out diligent screening of illegal migrants in their countries before repatriation to ensure that rescued victims of human trafficking do not suffer untold hardship in Europe.  The […]

The Acting Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri has called on countries under the European Union to carry out diligent screening of illegal migrants in their countries before repatriation to ensure that rescued victims of human trafficking do not suffer untold hardship in Europe.
 The Acting Director-General of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP) Alhaji Abdulrazak Dangiri made the call when a host of delegation from the European Union (EU) member tates paid him a working visit.
According to him, the protocol to suppress and punish trafficking in persons which supplements the United Nations Convention on Organised Crimes recommends protection and assistance to victims of human trafficking across the globe by member states irrespective of their immigration status.
“Victims of human trafficking are not criminals. Therefore, there is the need to provide what is called customized rehabilitation package for them so that they are not vulnerable to being re-trafficked after they return to their home countries,’’ he stated.
The NAPTIP boss who lamented the alarming rate of illegal Nigerian migrants in Europe which the delegation put at 30, 000 in 2015 as against 25, 000 in 2014, told the delegation that the agency would require a comprehensive analysis of the figures with a view to knowing those that are victims of human trafficking so as to be able to attend to them in line with the global standards and best practices.
Earlier, head of the delegation, Winiarska Helena, said that the team was in Nigeria in line with the Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility Cooperation reached by Nigeria and member states of the European Union in March, 2015.
She revealed that the European Union was particularly concerned with the influx of illegal migrants which now constitute both social and security threat to the region.
The EU head of delegation also spoke of the urgent need to address the root causes of illegal migration by various countries in order to forestall its attendant consequences and casualties, bearing in mind that due to the present improvement in climatic feasibility especially around the Mediterranean route, the number of illegal migrants is expected to peak within the next few months.